Should you buy a Huawei phone right now?

In the past few years, Huawei has been very vibrant in the production of new smartphones and some of the latest features. At the moment, the company is the second biggest manufacturer of phone in the world, ahead of Apple.

But the recent ban of Huawei in the United States due to security impediments begs the question: is a Huawei phone still worth it if you are in Kenya? Especially after Google and other American tech companies burnt their bridges with Huawei. If you are currently shopping for a new smartphone, should you even consider Huawei?

If at all you give Huawei the benefit of doubt, here is what you are likely to encounter.

1. You will not be able to get Android updates

Any Android updates created by Google will bypass all Huawei users. This means, after a while Huawei phones’ operating systems will become outdated. You will not also be able to receive updates on your existing phone applications. This will make them vulnerable to security flaws which are normally fixed through updates which will not be available to Huawei users.

2. Google-related apps will be unavailable in future phones

Applications such as Google, Google Maps, Chrome, Google Drive and Photos, Gmail, and YouTube, will be out of bound for you if you plan to buy the new Huawei phones made after August this year. But if you buy a phone now or already have it, the apps will continue to work, but will not get updates.

For Huawei users' questions regarding our steps to comply w/ the recent US government actions: We assure you while we are complying with all US gov't requirements, services like Google Play & security from Google Play Protect will keep functioning on your existing Huawei device.

Current users of the Huawei phone are the only ones who will have access to the Google Play Store. The alternative will be to use the Android Open Source Platform (AOSP) which is a free platform that any company can use to store its applications. However, if Huawei chooses this operating system, the Google-run apps will not be there. Therefore, Huawei will have to find another developer so that its users can have access to a fully-stoked play store.

Therefore if you are considering buying a Huawei phone, hold back for now. Unless you’re willing to operate without the Google apps. It’s better to consider alternatives, such as Samsung, Tecno, Infinix etc.

However, it’s not all bleak for Huawei as the company has said that it has been developing its own alternative to Android for the past seven years. So there are hopes it will stand back on its feet.